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Further Reading

As bad as it is to have the cancelled Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explode on a plane or in your hand, having the phone catch fire in a small, glass-filled case mere inches from your eyes seems like a particularly bad scenario. Oculus and Samsung have obviously realized this and has pushed out an update preventing the volatile phone from working with the Gear VR headset.

“Customer safety is Oculus’ top priority,” reads the message. “Oculus is removing support for all Note7 devices on the Oculus platform. Until further notice, Note7 devices will not be compatible with the Gear VR. For more information regarding the Note7 please contact Samsung directly.”

Further Reading

We have yet to hear any reports of Note 7 phones catastrophically failing while inside a Gear VR, and it's definitely for the best that Samsung and Oculus do what they can to prevent the possibility. And as Samsung does everything in its power to get every last Note 7 off the market, literally throwing these words directly in the faces of potential Gear VR users seems like a smart move.

Gear VR still works with other phones in the Samsung Galaxy line, from the Galaxy Note 5 onward.

Promoted Comments

A little late, no? This should've happened as soon as the phone was found to be unsafe. Strapping potential fire hazard to my face is a nono. I tried S7e with the Gear VR once, and it got noticably hot, yikes.

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Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl